MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
February 1, 2023
GOD’S SAVING ENMITY
Part 5
Again, Genesis 3:15 is the beginning of all the prophecies and promises of the Bible, as fleshed out in the everlasting gospel plan prepared before the foundations of the earth were laid for creation. If we truly desire to know “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” i. e., “the truth as it is in Jesus” that saves fallen, sinful humanity FROM (not “in”) the power of sin, “the world, the flesh and the devil,” we first must learn to trace from cause to effect.
Indeed, for “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The consequences of a seemingly “small” wrong choice or a “minor” yet willful digression from God’s express will as revealed “unto the law and testimony” (Isa. 8:20), can and has resulted in humiliating, painful, long-lasting, and in the Fall at Eden, global consequences—such as the sinful curiosity of Eve and Adam’s obsessive love for her over their Creator.
Paul precisely refers to this, declaring: “Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. . . .
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come [as the promised ‘Seed of the woman.’].” Rom. 5: 12, 14.
The omnipotent mouth that simply spoke into existence both “the heaven and earth and all that in them is” in six literal days of 24 hours (except the creation of man which He formed with His own hands from the dust of the ground of Eden) was the same mouth that pronounced and defined the true nature of the GREAT CONTROVERSY on EARTH (which first started in heaven, Rev. 12: 3-9), the main issue between the two armies and their respective commanders-in-chief; as to who eventually emerges victorious; and by what master strategy, method, and plan.
Abel the First Martyr; Cain the First Murderer. The murder of Abel by his own elder brother Cain (the very first two sons of Adam and Eve, their very first “seed”) is both the first example of the enmity between “Satan and his seed and the woman and her seed;” it is also the type of the antitypical declaration of Christ four thousand years after the fall in Eden to all His first faithful followers on earth in the New Testament, Christian dispensation, starting with the First Twelve disciples (in training).
He solemnly told them, as “it is written” in the following Scriptures found in
Matt. 10: 16- 18, 21-25, 32-39, KJV. all emphasis mine):
“Behold, I send you forth as SHEEP among WOLVES: be ye therefore WISE as serpents, and HARMLESS as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils [of apostate religions such as “the beast and its image,” Rev. 13], and they will scourge you in their synagogues [places of religious worship and activity]. And you shall be brought before governors and kings [politically corrupt secular and state powers-that-be] for My sake, for a testimony AGAINST them and for the Gentiles. . . . And the BROTHER SHALL DELIVER UP THE BROTHER TO DEATH, AND THE FATHER THE CHILD: AND THE CHILDREN SHALL RISE UP AGAINST THEIR PARENTS, AND CAUSE THEM TO BE PUT TO DEATH. And you shall be HATED [the enmity in action and at work] of all men for My name’s sake; but HE THAT ENDURETH TO THE END SHALL BE SAVED.
“But when they PERSECUTE you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. The DISCIPLE is not above the MASTER nor the SERVANT above his LORD. It is ENOUGH for the disciple that he be AS his Master, and the servant AS his Lord. If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub [‘prince of devils’|, how much MORE shall they call them of His household?
“Whosoever therefore shall CONFESS ME before men, him will I confess ALSO before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall DENY ME before men, him will I ALSO DENY before My Father which is in heaven.
“Think not that I am come [in His first advent] to send PEACE on earth: I came not to send peace but a SWORD. For I am come to SET A MAN AT VARIANCE [enmity] AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND THE DAUGHTER AGAINST THE MOTHER, AND THE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW. AND A MAN’S FOE [enemy at enmity] SHALL BE THEY OF HIS OWN HOUSEHOLD.
“He that loveth FATHER OR MOTHER MORE THAN Me is NOT WORTHY of Me: and he loveth SON OR DAUGHTER more than Me not worthy of Me. And he that taketh NOT HIS CROSS [as defined above], and followeth after Me [My example] is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life [for his self’s sake] shall lose it: and he that loseth his life [for Christ and righteousness’ sake] shall find it.”Moreover, Jesus said of this manifested enmity (see chapter 15: 1-27): “These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended. [why?] “They shall put you out of the synagogues [accused and anathemized as “soulless heretics’ consigned damnation and eternal torment of hell fire’]: yea, THE TIME COMETH, that whosoever KILLETH YOU will think that HE DOETH GOD SERVICE. And these things will they do unto you, because they had not known the Father nor Me.” John 16: 1-3, KJV.
If we do not invoke the grace-imparted anew principle of enmity/hatred that God put immediately after the fall between Satan and the woman and their respective “seeds,” we will invariably become the most efficient agents of Satan and the worst enemies of God’s faithful people in these last days. Therefore “examine yourselves, prove yourselves whether you are really in the true “faith of Jesus.”
To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.